Zigbee creating the Home Swarm

Zigbee, the wireless sensor networking technology based on IEEE 802.15.4 is becoming the network of choice for control and monitoring in the home.  (http://everythingwireless.wordpress.com/2009/10/22/zigbees-value-to-personal-health-care/)  This includes applications in healthcare like glucose monitoring for remote patients and in energy like demand management across applicances in the home.  While Zigbee is fairly low data rate (typically 100kbps), it offers major advantages over Bluetooth and WiFi in terms of power consumption/battery life (typically 5 years), sensor cost, and range (up to 1000 ft).  As we see more devices with embedded microprocessors proliferate around the home and office, expect Zigbee to help connect these objects into intelligent Swarms to provide users with up to date intelligence and control of their environments.  These will complement 4G technologies like LTE which will deliver pervasive broadband to connect this local information to other users that need to access it from healthcare providers to energy companies.